Put Ealing back the way it was

The current borough of Ealing has always been an awkward union of towns with quite different characters.

This was amply demonstrated at the council's planning committee meeting on Dickens Yard. The central Ealing councillors spoke solidly and fervently against the development.

The committee, made up of councillors from other areas, voted almost as solidly for it, not the sort of result that says much for local democracy.

It is easy to see a reverse situation happening, where an unpopular development in another part of the borough is voted through by mainly central Ealing councillors. Perhaps it is time to split the borough back into its constituent parts.